In sport and recreational fishing, fishing lures with multiple hooks are often used as a substitute for live bait or as the preferred form of fish attractant.
Lures may be simple spoon type lures which are relatively inexpensive or “baits fish profile” lures which can be very expensive. Such lures often include arrays of multiple hooks attached to the end of the fish profile, or lure body. The lure body is generally intended to mimic the appearance and behavior of a small fish. Accordingly, when the (target) fish attempts to eat the lure body, the hook, or hooks, attached to the lure body buries itself in the target fish's mouth.
The hooks of the lure make the lure prone to snagging. This is especially so when fishing over coral or rocks or adjacent submerged tree branches. As a result, fishing lure retrievers have been developed with the aim of retrieving snagged lures. Most lures are specifically developed for a particular purpose; and often a fisherman (angler) will change lures during any given fishing session with a view to optimizing his or her catch. Accordingly, fishermen typically include several types of lure retrievers in their fishing kits for use depending upon the lure being used and the anticipated snag. Unfortunately, snagged lures are not generally visible to the angler and thus anglers may try different types of retrievers with a view to releasing or freeing any given lure from any given snag. Generally, lure retrievers fall into three broad categories: “break away”, “extendable pole” and “sliders”.
“Break away” lure retrieval devices are designed to incorporate a ‘weak link’ between the lure body and the hook(s). If a hook of the lure becomes snagged, the angler can intentionally break the link between the body and the hook; thereby leaving the hook, but retrieving the lure body. While offering a simple solution to the issue of a snagged lure, this method also presents disadvantages. Because fishing lines come in varying strengths, the size and strength of the ‘weak link’ must be carefully considered. Using an inappropriately sized link could cause the lure to break away from the hook under normal use—not only letting the target fish get away, but causing the hook to remain in the mouth of the fish, which can be detrimental to the fish's life. Additionally, this is considered to be a crude means of retrieving the lure body; with a certain amount of pride being associated with retrieving an intact fishing lure.
“Extendable pole”-type devices comprise extendable rods or poles, typically having a length from about 10 to about 18 feet. The end of the pole is usually mounted with some sort of device, e.g., a coil, for guiding the rod to the snagged fishing lure. The fishing lure is then jostled loose with the rod. These types of devices provide several disadvantages. To successfully use the extendable pole, the fisherman must coordinate holding and jostling the extendable retrieval pole while holding (or otherwise maintaining control over) the fishing pole. Additionally, the fisherman is limited by the length of the pole, i.e., he or she will only be able to retrieve lures that are within the reach/range of the pole. Furthermore, such devices may be unwieldy to transport and keep handy.
“Slider” type devices attach to the actual fishing line and ‘slide’ down the fishing line to the snagged lure. Slider retrievers can be sub-divided into several categories—each category employing different methods for actually freeing the snagged lure. The primary subcategories of sliders are “knockers”, chain-type devices, and “latching” devices. Knockers use kinetic energy to knock, or hit, loose the lure. Some of the more resourceful anglers will invent their own version of knocker, using anything with significant weight or mass to slide down the line to knock the snagged lure. Chain-type devices combine the use of a weight with a series of chains. The weight is threaded onto the fishing line and allowed to slide down to the snagged lure. The chains are jostled in an attempt to ensnare a free hook of the lure. Once a chain is hooked onto the lure, the whole assembly is pulled to free the lure. “Latching” devices are also slid down to the fishing line to the snagged lure, but use some means of “latching” onto the lure once the device the reaches the lure. One example of such a device uses a cantilever action to grab the snagged lure and then, again, the entire assembly is pulled back up—hopefully, with the lure latched to the device.
Thus, anglers may require many types of lure retrievers in their kit in order to cope with the variety of snag situations which could occur in a fishing session. Mostly this is not practical and anglers often accept the loss of expensive lures as a necessary cost.
The present invention aims to alleviate and address some of the disadvantages of other fishing lure retrieval devices described above and otherwise present in the art, to provide an improved, convenient, easily manufactured lure retrieval device.